Republicans are deceitfully playing with words to avoid being slammed
as homophobes, racists, and bigots, claimed CNN contributor L.Z.
Granderson on Tuesday morning's Newsroom. Anchor Kyra Phillips simply
let Granderson air his liberal diatribe without any challenge, and no
conservative guest was brought on to respond.
Republicans "aren't fighting for Muslims and mosques," said Granderson
of their claims of "religious freedom," but simply "fighting for
Christianity."
Granderson also claimed that candidates hide behind the phrase "family values" to avoid a direct reference to same-sex couples, and thus are able to oppose same-sex marriage without being called homophobes.
He added that when the candidates want to "secure the border," they're referring to Mexicans. "If they really were about securing the border, they would talk about the other borders as well," he insisted.
[Video below. Click here [1] for audio.]
The duo hinted that Republicans are afraid of charges of racism.
Phillips later asked "how do we talk about national security without
sounding racist?" Granderson, at the end, insisted that "we need to
start having a real honest conversation about this, and go ahead and
talk about race being part of this."
"[T]he more you deny it, the more you look like you're guilty," said Granderson.
A transcript of the segment, which aired on February 21 at 9:44 a.m. EST, is as follows:
KYRA PHILLIPS: Alright America, be honest with me. When you listen to all these debates and you hear these GOP candidates throw out all kinds of facts and figures, phrases and promises, do you really understand what they're truly saying? L.Z. Granderson says you probably don't. Behind the buzzwords and the euphemisms, deceit lurks. So our CNN op-ed writer is here to play the race card again. No those are not my words. Those are his. L.Z.?
(Laughter)
LZ GRANDERSON, CNN contributor, ESPN.com senior writer: Yep, that would be me. I am playing the race card.
(Laughter) (Crosstalk)
GRANDERSON: I think I'm just trying to point out what people are afraid to say.
PHILLIPS: Well, where do we begin? Religious freedom, family values, protect the border?
GRANDERSON: Well, we begin with all of them, really. You know, religious freedom, for instance, right? You know they aren't fighting for Muslims and mosques. They're fighting for Christianity and Judeo-Christianity. So let's just be honest with that, right?
When you talk about family values, they're saying that because the assumption is that gay people don't have families, and so it's a way for them to talk about gay issues or gay people without saying "gay," so they don't get pinned for being homophobic.
And "secure the border," that's about Mexicans. Let's just say what it is, they're talking about Mexican people. They're talking about illegal immigrants coming from Mexico. If they really were about securing the border, they would talk about the other borders as well.
(...)
PHILLIPS: Okay so how do we talk about national security without sounding racist?
GRANDERSON: That is a great question.
PHILLIPS: Answer that for me.
GRANDERSON: The first thing we need to do – (Laughter) – well the first thing we need to do is actually admit that there's some element of race in the conversation. We don't like to do that because if we do that, then it sounds as if we're talking about being racist or supporting racism. But if we pretend as if it's not a factor, then what we're doing is leading the darkness for racists to actually incubate, if you will. So let's just go ahead and say, you know what, the Mexican population in our country has skyrocketed over the last number of years. We know that 50 percent of the people who are illegal immigrants come here through evasion – that means they don't go through the legal process. And so we need to start having a real honest conversation about this, and go ahead and talk about race being part of this, as opposed to try to pretend that it's not part of it because the more you deny it, the more you look like you're guilty.